Stadionul Național (1953)

Stadionul Național

Former names	Stadionul August 23 (1953-90)
Location	Bucharest, Romania
Owner	Municipality of Bucharest
Operator	Romania national football team
Capacity	60,120 (football, rugby) 70,000 (concerts)
Construction
Built	1953
Opened	August 2, 1953
Closed	November 22, 2007
Demolished	December 18, 2007 – February 20, 2008
Tenants
Romania national football team FC Steaua București FC Dinamo București

Stadionul Național (Romanian pronunciation: [stadiˈonul nat͡sioˈnal], The National Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium in Bucharest, Romania. The stadium held 60,120 people.

History

It was built in 1953, for the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students. According to the book București published in 1968 by Institutul Proiect București, Complexul Sportiv August 23 was designed by the well known architect Vily Juster.

It was first known as Stadionul August 23, and later on as Stadionul Național. The sports complex that included Național Stadium, is named Lia Manoliu after the famous Romanian athlete.

It was used mostly for football matches.

It hosted numerous concerts after the 1989 Revolution, including Michael Jackson's Dangerous World Tour concert on October 1, 1992, as well as the HIStory World Tour concert on September 14, 1996.

In October 2005, it was decided to rebuild the stadium completely; however, initially no funding was found, so some repairs proceeded in lieu of rebuilding. Later, funds became available and the rebuilding is expected to begin in November 2007. The plan calls for completion of a new five-star arena by April 2010. The last football match played was a 6-1 win against Albania on November 21, 2007. After the match, a few seats were removed from the stadium, as a symbolic start of the rebuilding operations. The stadium has subsequently been demolished to make room for a new one.

Attendance

List of matches of Romania national football team on National Stadium (former August 23), with more than 80,000 persons.

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Ref
September 28, 1955	Romania	1–0	Belgium	100.000 or 90.000	[1][2][3][4][5]
October 26, 1958	Romania	1–2	Hungary	100.000 or 90.000	[2][6][7][8][9]
September 18, 1955	Romania	2–3	East Germany	100.000 or 90.000	[3][2][10][11][12]
November 6, 1969	Romania	1–1	Greece	90.000	[13][14][15]
October 25, 1953	Romania	0–1	Czechoslovakia	90.000	[2][16][17]
May 29, 1955	Romania	2–2	Poland	80.000	[3][18][19][20]
November 25, 1962	Romania	3–1	Spain	80.000	[13][21][22]
May 30, 1965	Romania	1–0	Czechoslovakia	80.000	[13][23][24][25]
May 12, 1963	Romania	3–2	East Germany	80.000	[13][26]
May 22, 1956	Romania	0–2	Czechoslovakia	80.000	[13][27][28][29]
May 14, 1972	Romania	2–2	Hungary	80.000	[30][31][32]
April 16, 1983	Romania	1–0	Italy	80.000	[33][34][35][36]
June 1, 1975	Romania	2–2	Scotland	80.000	[32][37][38]
October 15, 1980	Romania	2–1	England	80.000	[34][39][40][41][42]
November 3, 1957	Romania	3–0	Greece	80.000	[2][43]
September 29, 1957	Romania	1–1	Yugoslavia	80.000	[2][44]
November 8, 1959	Romania	1–0	Bulgaria	80.000	[2][45][46]
August 2, 1959	Romania	0–0	Soviet Union	80.000	[2][44][46][47]
November 3, 1957	Romania	3–0	Turkey	70.000	[48][2][49][8]
October 9, 1955	Romania	1–1	Bulgaria	70.000	[50][51][3][2]
October 12, 1969	Romania	1–0	Portugal	75.000

References

External links

• Cum s-a născut Stadionul "23 august" (in Romanian)
• Naţional Arena: istoria fascinantă a „celui mai mare stadion al ţării“ (in Romanian)
• Vezi cine au fost cei care au făcut din Groapa Vergului „cel mai mare stadion al ţării“ (in Romanian)

Preceded by Estadio Olímpico Universitario  Mexico	Universiade 1981	Succeeded by Commonwealth Stadium  Canada

Coordinates: 44°26′13″N 26°09′07″E / 44.437°N 26.152°E / 44.437; 26.152